Oregon outlasts Penn State to remain unbeaten, win Big Ten - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — Dan Lanning stood outside Oregon's locker room Saturday night, hugging and slapping hands with every player, coach and staff member leaving the confetti-filled field at Lucas Oil Stadium.

When Oregon was preparing for its first season in the Big Ten, Lanning had challenged his team to become the «keystone species,» a new organism that can define its ecosystem. The Ducks were joining a conference that included defending national champion Michigan and historic powers Ohio State and Penn State.

They ended up taking down all three, with Penn State being the final foe to fall Saturday in the Big Ten championship. Led by quarterback Dillon Gabriel and wide receiver Tez Johnson, No. 1 Oregon outlasted No. 3 Penn State 45-37 to secure its first Big Ten title in its first season in the conference.

«It's just going in a new environment, just kind of messing up that environment, being the alpha in that environment,» tight end Terrance Ferguson said of Lanning's keystone species theory. «There's been some alphas in the Big Ten, and we just came in and put our hat on that. All year, that's been preached to us, and we just put in the work to make it happen.»

The Ducks remained the nation's only undefeated team at 13-0, tying a single-season team record for victories, and secured a first-round bye in the first 12-team College Football Playoff. They will return to the CFP for the first time since the format launched in 2014, when they lost to Ohio State in the national championship game. Oregon is slotted for the Rose Bowl and will face the winner of the first-round game between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds.

In late July, Ferguson joined Gabriel, linebacker Jeffrey Bassa and Lanning on the same field at Lucas Oil Stadium for